A brief history of The Royal Oak Building, Newingreen

Anyone who has ever stopped by for a chat with us has always commented on our working environment.

Oak offers a friendly open space for meetings and ideas. The main feature of our office is the oak bar that although not original, due to an unfortunate fire, helps to link The Royal Oak Public House to its origins.

The building that we know as the Royal Oak Building was built in 1560 by Thomas Finch. That makes the building 449 years old!

For the first 200 years the building was a farmers house until in 1775 it was bought by Caleb Buss, a farmer and brewer. In 1776, Caleb was granted a licence to sell Ale and Cider. In 1797, after Calebs death the building was passed to his son Thomas Buss, who applied for a wine licence which was granted that same year.

Thomas Buss also registered the building under the name The ‘Royal Oak’, after Charles II’s escape from the Parliamentarians by hiding in a hollow oak tree.

In 1823 the Inn was sold to the Hythe Brewery which was owned by a succession of people until in 1953, the Royal Oak Motel was built. The motel is reputed to be the first motel in the UK. It was closed in 1989.

In 1999 the site was bought by Holiday Extras. Two years later Oak Creative moved in, and its been our home ever since.

If you can contribute any information or even images of the Royal Oak Building it would be greatly appreciated.